Magners League Team of the Year – Did your players make it?

THEY MAY have been the first team to seal a semi-final spot, but Munster provide only one player in the Magners League Dream Team – fly-half Ronan O’Gara, writes Rob Cole.

Munster’s Irish rivals Leinster on the other hand provide a third of this season’s team, which is chosen by a panel of 19 journalists from the four participating nations.

Half the players in the pack are from Leinster – Richardt Strauss, Mike Ross, Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip – while Isa Nacewa is selected at full-back.

Magners League record-breaker Tim Visser and Ireland No 8 Heaslip are the only two players to retain their places in the dream team.

Edinburgh wing Visser overtook Jamie Robinson and Kevin Morgan as the league’s record try-scorer in a season with his 13th touchdown in Edinburgh’s win over Aironi last month and gathered more votes than any other player selected in the team.

That score against Aironi also extended his lead as the top try-scorer in this campaign – a title he also held last season with ten touchdowns.

Fionn Carr – the first Connacht player ever to be picked in the dream team – is the other wing.

Glasgow’s Richie Gray led the way in the voting among the locks. Ospreys skipper Alun Wyn Jones is picked alongside him – the only representative for the defending champions.

The loosehead spot goes to one of the most consistent performers over the history of the Magners League – the Scarlets’ former Wales prop, Iestyn Thomas.

Another Scarlet has been selected behind the scrum. Wales centre Jonathan Davies picked up 14 votes for one of the two centre berths with Cardiff Blues’ Casey Laulala outside him.